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Let’s talk about sales – How to lead a negotiation

There are a few key aspects you need to be aware of and be very attentive to. These will help you to have a clear view of what’s happening and control the discussion or its course (or at least not let yourself fall in the customer trap. Remember, until you gain his trust and are able to build up a cordial relationship with your customer/buyer, he will challenge you, shake you, almost ignore you and for sure test all boundaries. On the one hand, you need to be in control of yourself but also control the direction of the discussion.

Often, you have your agenda and you’re expecting the discussion to follow a certain order and direction, and consequently attain a certain outcome. But then, once you start, the customer will bring up all kinds of diversions and will lead you in all kinds of directions – bringing to the table topics that you weren’t expecting and mixing up all the steps of the agenda.  There are two possible reasons for this. First, the purchaser is hectic and disorganized and can’t follow good order and preparation – there are a few – sometimes who do this just to show you how busy they are and how complicated their lives are. The second one is a bit trickier. Purchasers will do that on purpose. To confuse you, to drain your energy, to put you off the rails and forget your main objective. It’s part of their strategy. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap.

During the discussion, it’s important that you ask the right questions and clear all areas of doubt about how to optimize this deal/customer.

The purchaser’s role isn’t to make your life easier. His role is to push you, to confuse you, to object to your arguments, to throw info you are unaware of, and to bring onto the table eventual weaknesses of your company (known from public, market or from previous experiences).

He does this to tire you so you lower your guard and start thinking he might be right and he’s entitled to a better price, service or package. That’s his role, at least until you get confidence enough or develop a trustworthy relationship where only what matters will be discussed – and without diversion games.

Things to have in mind embracing a sales career- How to lead a discussion:

 

This is an excerpt of my book “sales is my passion”,  available here: http://amzn.to/2DY7nVy

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